Multiple purpose filing cabinet



Sept. 4, 1962 F. s. FOOTE, JR., ETAL 3,052,363

MULTIPLE PURPOSEFILING CABINET Filed Jan. 22, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 +1 LL. INVENTORS FRANCIS S. F0075, JR.

HARRY W ZECLAIRE Q w/fl ATTORNE Y Sept. 4, 1962 F. s. FOOTE, JR, ETAL 3,052,363

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INVENTOR. FRANCIS .5: room, JR, HARRY m LEcLAmz ATTORNE Y Patented Sept. 4, 1962 3,952,363 MIIJL'IELE PURFGSE FILING CABINET Francis S. Foote, In, Berkeley, and Harry W. Le Claire, Atherton, Calif., assignors to Tab Products (30., $211 Francisco, Calif, a corporation of California Filed Jan. 22, 1959, Ser. No. 788,455 2 Claims. (Cl. 211-136) This invention relates to a storage cabinet. More particularly it relates to a storage cabinet adapted for use in oflices which employ accounting and tabulating machines.

In an office employing accounting or tabulating machines the need arises for storage space for such adjuncts to and accessories of themachines as control panels, wires, supplies of punch cards, etc. Because of the great variety of objects stored and their many different sizes and shapes, the problem of storage is diflicult. Given enough space, these accessories can be stored, but it is frequently necessary to store the accessories in a small space, and it is usually advantageous to store them in a few compact cabinets which are close at hand for the convenience of the operators of the machines.

Heretofore, to our knowledge, storage equipment intended for this purpose has not been satisfactory because of its lack of flexibility and adaptibility to a variety of needs. For example, an ofiice may require a cabinet which has adjustable shelves, transverse dividers and longitudinal back stops to accommodate large and small control panels and many other accessories, and to segregate the different objects from one another for purposes of neatness and convenience. Such needs will vary from office to ofiice, and within a single office these needs will vary from time to time.

It is, therefore, apparent that a single design which lacks adjustability will not serve all the needs required; that adjustments must be made to rc-arrange a given cabinet for efficient fulfillment of difierent needs; and that such adjustments, to be acceptable in an ofiice and to be readily manipulated by unskilled personnel, must be easily accomplished.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cabinet which is better adapted than the cabinets provided heretofore, for the purpose of storing adjuncts to and accessories of accounting and tabulating machines of the character described.

It is a particular object of the invention to provide a storage cabinet for the purpose described which is flexible in character, which can be readily adapted for a great variety of uses and for the storage of many different articles in a small space, and whose adaptation to different uses can be accomplished Without special skill.

The above and other objects will be apparent from the ensuing description and the appended claims.

One form of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the storage cabinet of the invention shown with shelves mounted therein and with some of the shelves holding accounting and tabulating machine accessory equipment such as control panels.

FIGURE 2 is a transverse vertical section taken along the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1, looking toward one end of the cabinet.

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal section taken along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2, looking at the top of one of the removable shelves.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken along the line 4- 2 of FIGURE 3, showing the means employed to mount the divider strips.

FIGURE 5 is a section taken along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of FIGURE 3, showing the means of mounting the back stops.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIGURE 3, showing the means of mounting the removable shelves.

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary, sectional View taken along the line 8-8 of FIGURE 7.

Referring now to the drawings and preliminarily to FIGURES 1 and 2, the storage cabinet there shown is generally designated by the reference numeral 10 and it comprises two end members 11, a base member 12 and a top member 13. The particular cabinet shown is a double-depth cabinet which is open on both sides and has a depth sufiicient to install a set of double-width shelves. It will be understood that the principles of the invention are also applicable to a single-depth cabinet having a set of single-width shelves. In the case of a. single-depth cabinet a rear panel (not shown) may be employed as a rear closure. The front of a single-depth cabinet, and both sides of a double-depth cabinet, are provided with doors, as will become apparent.

Removable shelves are shown at 14 whose construction and means of mounting will be described in detail hereinafter. There is also a permanent shelf 14a which extends between and is fixed to the end panels '11. The permanent shelf 14a, like the removable shelves 14, extends through the cabinet from side to side. It is located approximately midway of the height of the cabinet. Besides providing a shelf, the member 14a also strenghtens the cabinet. Also shown in FIGURE 2 are legs 15 in the form of jacks to support and level the cabinet.

Referring now primarily to FIGURE 2, it. will be seen that the cabinet 10/ is provided with doors 16 which are retractable and which, in their retracted or open positions, are supported upon door support means 17.. As stated, the cabinet 10 is a double cabinet which is accessible from both sides. Accordingly there is a set of doors 16 on each side of the cabinet. It will be noted that the door mounting or support means 17 on one side (i.e., on the left as viewed in FIGURE 2) slant upwardly and inwardly so that, when the doors 16 on that side are in open, retracted position, they will clear the retracted doors on the other side of the cabinet. Therefore the doors on both sides of the cabinet can be opened simultaneously.

It is preferred to construct the doors 16 and their support members 17 in the manner described and claimed in our copending application Serial No. 768,726, entitled Door Mounting for Filing Cabinet, filed October 21, 1958, now Patent No. 3,014,773. However, other door mounting and support means may be provided. Further description of the doors 16 and their support. members 17 is unnecessary for an understanding of the present invention.

Referring now to FIGURES 1, 7 and 8, each end wall 11 has an interior panel or surface 25, the base portion 12 has an interior panel or surface 26 and the permanent shelf 14a has a panel or surface 260. Each of these panels or surfaces is formed with an outer or front row of slots 27a and with an inner or rear row of slots 27b. These slots are spaced uniformly. Since the cabinet shown is a double cabinet, it will be understood that this slot arrangement is duplicated on the other side of the cabinet, as shown more clearly in FIGURES 2 and 3. It will also be seen that the slots 27a on each side of the cabinet register with one another, as do the slots 27 b. That is to say, the slots 27a on either side of the cabinet lie in a single vertical plane and the slots 27b on either side also lie in a single vertical plane.

The slots 27a and 27b in the end panels serve as mounting means to mount the removable shelves 14. One such shelf is shown in FIGURE 7. Each shelf 14 has at each end a downwardly projecting flange 28 which is notched in a stepwise manner at 2911 and 29b. Only one set of notches 29a, 29b is shown in FIGURE 7, but it will be understood that each flange 28 will be formed with at least two sets of notches 29a, 2%.

For the purpose of mounting the removable shelves 14 there are also provided mounting strips 30, one for each end of a single depth shelf and two for each end of a double depth shelf. Each mounting strip 30 is formed with a ledge 30a and it is also formed at each end with a locking element 31 which is bent doubly at 32 and is formed at 33 with a vertical tab. The element 31 is also bent to form a horizontal tab 34. The spacing of the double bend at 32 and the horizontal tab 34 is equal to the spacing of the mounting slots 27a (or 27b). Therefore, it will be apparent that each of the locking elements 31 can be inserted in a pair of slots 2741 or 27b and that, by this means the mounting strips 30 can be readily mounted. When mounted in this manner, the mounting strips 30 are held firmly and securely in place, yet it is a very simple matter to mount them and also to demount them. No special skill is required for these operations.

Each mounting strip 30 is also formed with a pair of projecting tongues 35 (one of which is shown in FIG- URES 7 and 8) which are adapted to fit in the notches 29a and 2%. In mounting a shelf 14, the shelf will be maneuvered until the notches 2% are in alignment with the tongues 35. The shelf is then dropped onto the tongues and then moved rearwardly (or to the right as viewed in FIGURE 7) to seat the tongues 35 in the. inner notches 2%. To remove a shelf, it is lifted, moved forwardly to register the tongues 35 with the outer notches 29a and then lifted free. The slant given to the bottoms of the inner notches 29b assists in these manipulations.

It will be apparent that the removable shelves 14 can be inserted and removed at will and with ease; that they are firmly and securely supported; and that their spacing can be controlled with ease. Also, by employing single depth shelves with a double. depth cabinet, the spacing of shelves on one side of the cabinet can be different from the shelf spacing on the other side.

As stated, the cabinet is a double cabinet. If a very long object is to be stored, it may require the entire width of a shelf 14 (or 14a). In many cases, however, the objects stored require less than half the depth of the cabinet. Therefore, objects will be inserted on both sides. It is convenient, therefore, to provide back stops to separate the two sides of the cabinet. Ootherwise a stored object may be pushed back out of reach, or to the wrong side of the cabinet. To avoid this, back stops are provided which are shown at 40 in FIGURES 1, 2, 3 and 6, being shown in detail in the last figure.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURE 6, each back stop 40 is an angle piece having a vertical portion 41 which serves as an abutment and a base portion 42. The base portion is slotted at intervals at 43 and the partially severed piece is bent to form a tongue 44. The removable shelves 14, likewise the permanent shelf 14a, are formed with openings 45 which are adapted to register with the tongues 44. Therefore each back stop 40 can be inserted easily by inserting its tongues 44 in the corresponding openings 45, and pushing in, i.e., toward the center of the cabinet. The tongues 44 are spaced from the base portion 42 so as to facilitate the initial forward motion but to tighten up and clamp the back stop firmly when pushed in to the limit.

It will, therefore, be apparent that the back stops 40 can be inserted and removed at will and with ease; that when inserted they are firmly held; and that they provide convenient abutments to form, in effect, two cabinets back-to-back and to separate articles stored on one side from those stored on the other side.

In a cabinet of the character described, not only is it desirable to segregate articles on one side of the cabinet from those on the other side (which is accomplished by the back stops 40), but frequently it is desirable to compartmentalize each shelf by separating articles that are stored side by side. This is accomplished by means of transverse divider strips which are shown at 50 in FIG- URES 1, 2 and 3 and in detail in FIGURES 4 and 5.

Referring to FIGURES 4 and 5, each divider strip 50 is in the form of an inverted chanel and it is formed at each end and on each side with a downwardly projecting leg 51 the width of which permits it to pass through a mounting slot 27m or 27b. The thickness of the'legs 51 and the spacing of each pair is such that they must be forced into a pair of slots 27a or 27b. The force required is not great but serves to hold the divider strip tightly in place.

It will, therefore, be apparent that the divider strips 50 can be inserted and removed at will and with ease and can be changed about to suit different compartmenting requirements.

Referring now to the aggregate of figures but more particularly to FIGURE 1, it will be seen that the cabinet of our invention is characterized by a high degree of fiexibility. Thus it can be used as a single large, extra deep cabinet by omitting the back stops 40, or as two separate, back-to-back cabinets by using the back stops. Also some of the shelves can be used with back stops and other shelves can be used without back stops, thereby providing both extra deep and shallow shelves in one cabinet. Also the number and spacing of shelves can be controlled at will to provide maximum storage capacity for a variety of objects including relatively flat objects and bulkier objects of greater height. The divider elements compartmentalize each shelf, thereby providing pigeon holes or individual shelf compmtments for each stored article, such as large, medium and small control panels shown at 60, 61 and 62, respectively. This great variety of adjustment is accomplished with a very few parts consisting of the main cabinet, the removable shelves 14, the shelf mounting strips 30, the back stops 4% and the dividers 50. The necessary manipulations can be accomplished with ease, without any particular skill and without the need for tools, nuts, bolts, screws, etc.

We claim:

1. An adjustable shelf cabinet of the character described comprising spaced end walls, a top and a bottom, each said end wall being formed with flat planar interior sides having a forward row of mounting slots and a rearward row of mounting slots, the forward rows being in a forward vertical plane and the rearward rows being in a rearward vertical plane; at least one removable shelf adapted to extend between said end walls and having a vertical flange at each end formed with at least two stepped mounting notches each having an open outer end and a closed inner end displaced laterally from the open end; and a mounting member for each end of each removable shelf, each such mounting member comprising an elongated strip formed with an outwardly projecting tongue for each mounting notch adapted to seat in the closed inner end of such notch, each said mounting member also comprising at least two mounting clips fixed to the opposite side of said strip and having a pair of tongues capable of insertion in a pair of mounting slots.

2. An adjustable shelf cabinet of the character described comprising a frame including .a top, a bottom and spaced end walls, each said end wall being formed with a front row of uniformly spaced mounting slots and a rear row of uniformly spaced mounting slots registering with the front row of slots; a plurality of shelves adapted to extend between said end walls, each having a vertical flange at each end formed with at least one retaining notch; and a mounting member for each end of each shelf, said mounting member comprising an elongated strip extending between a front row .and a rear row of mounting slots, 21 two prong clip at each end of said strip adapted to be inserted in a pair of adjacent References Cltmi in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 754,816 Schriefer Mar. 15, 1904 989,566 Callaghan Apr. 18, 1911 1,276,781 Lynds Aug. 27, 1918 10 6 Vance Nov. 6, 1923 lagle Mar. 17, 1936 Brown Apr. 11, 1944 Henry Oct. 6, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Aug. 25, 1932 France Feb. 9, 1948 Germany Dec. 14, 1950 Austria June 25, 1956 

